A COURTYARD / SIROCCO is a creative platform led by Emi Nakano and Motoki Takeuchi. Founded as a gallery in 2021, it works across photography, moving image, creator management and cultural direction. Since 2025, it has also operated as SISTER RAY, specialising in areas such as spatial documentation.
Emi Nakano began her career as a fashion photographer and later expanded her practice into visual production and 3DCG-related direction. Her work combines analogue sensitivity with contemporary digital image-making, ranging from photography to broader visual expression.
Motoki Takeuchi studied digital and communication design at the University of the Arts London, London College of Communication. After returning to Japan, he worked across web, mobile and corporate planning, and is now involved in running several companies.
His work now spans creative production, communications, spatial media and digital documentation. He is also featured as a verified professional on REALSEE and holds a Class 2 national qualification as an unmanned aircraft pilot in Japan.
A photographer known for his work across fashion, advertising, photography and cinematography. Beyond his own artistic practice, he has also been involved in establishing companies and creative production activities including 3DCG production.
A pioneer we deeply respect — a long-time friend and collaborator.
He began his creative journey in London as a fashion photographer and art director, crafting visual narratives with an analog sensibility. From the tactile grain of film to experimental analog gear, he has always embraced a hands-on approach to achieving distinct visual effects. When he relocated his creative base to Tokyo, that tactile vision found new energy — CG offered a new frontier: glitches, dreamlike distortions, entirely otherworldly expressions. In 2024, he founded Wildchild Studio, forging new creative paths in collaboration with SIROCCO.
Through experimentation, she manifests her own poetic universe. A multidisciplinary artist who works as a metal sculptor but also brings material sensitivity to other mediums — she combines her studio work with art direction, video and photo installation. Influenced by Kinetic and Body art, she focused her creation on body language. From object to image, a creative alliance of soul and flesh that resonate together; she conceives physical experiences reflecting movement and levitation. Being an artistic nomad, her creations are infused with multicultural diversity of shape and tradition. Feeling Japanese in her soul she immersed herself in this culture for 2 years. She exhibited a video installation at Kyoto Nuit Blanche in 2015.
With a dedication to delicate texture-making that bridges reality and imagination through transparency and beauty, Zuiyo crafts expression across a wide range of genres — brand and product films, installations, virtual content and more. Specialising in the rendering of transparent materials such as crystal, glass and jewellery, among the most technically demanding subjects in 3DCG, Zuiyo leads "Sonata," a creative team pursuing innovative visuals, and also works as a CG director.
